Canada's economy adds 7,700 jobs

OTTAWA ? Canada?s job-creation machine slowed in May following two massive months of employment gains but it still managed to squeeze out 7,700 additional jobs ? slightly more than expected and enough to keep the unemployment rate steady.

The increase was due to the addition of self-employed, government and part-time workers, which offset a decline in full-time employment in the private sector ? possibly a sign of that Canadian businesses were cautious about adding jobs.

Economists had largely anticipated the slowdown on the labour front, given that March and April saw an eye-popping 140,000 new jobs created, a 30-year high for a two-month period.

But given that Canada?s economic growth rate slipped below two per cent in the first quarter, analysts believed such numbers were unsustainable.

The May jobs report from Statistics Canada was seen as mostly welcome news and an indication that the debt crisis and recessionary climate in Europe hadn?t spooked Canadian employers.

?I?m just relieved it wasn?t an outright decline,? said Doug Porter, Bank of Montreal?s deputy chief economist.

?It?s far from a surprise that we get a little bit of a slowdown in job creation, especially given what just happened south of the border.?

Last week, the U.S. reported only 69,000 new jobs were created in May, the third straight disappointing performance.

Regionally, Quebec experienced the most job gains during month ? 14, 700 ? and Ontario the biggest decline ? 18,700. Alberta also saw a significant increase in employment with 9,800 net new jobs, dropping the province?s unemployment rate to 4.5 per cent, along with Saskatchewan, the lowest in the country. British Columbia saw its unemployment rate jump to 7.4 per cent from 6.2, but only because there were 30,500 more people looking for jobs in the province in May.

Porter said there was reason to cheer that Canada?s manufacturing sector posted a 36,400 jobs pick-up in May, and annualized growth rate for wages rose to three per cent from 2.3 per cent.

Scotiabank?s Derek Holt noted that the factory gain was the sixth consecutive monthly increase and lifted the jobs expansion in the Canada?s hard-pressed manufacturing sector to 3.3 per cent from last year.

Still there were several underlying weaknesses in the Statistics Canada report.

The main negative was that there were 15,600 fewer employees last month than in April, and the private sector shed 22,500 workers. As well, the number of new part-time workers outnumbered full-time by four to one.

Those numbers were mitigated by a rise of 23,300 in the self-employment category, which is usually a sign of labour market weakness. As well, government hiring rose by 6,900.

Looking down the road, news that Canada?s trade performance returned to negative with a $367 million deficit in April, following five months of surpluses, gives some evidence to the Bank of Canada?s view that trade will be a weak contributor to the economy this year.

Analysts said the data will likely have no effect on the Bank of Canada?s thinking over interest rates. The central bank is likely to stay on hold for some time, the said, given the uncertainty about how events in Europe will unfold.

May?s numbers brought job creation over the past 12 months to 203,000, consistent with an economy that is growing but modestly. Almost all have been full time.

Besides the big gain in manufacturing, Statistics Canada said employment in education services also increased, by 25,700, and there were 10,700 more workers in the agriculture sector.

Offsetting the gains, construction shed 27,000 workers and employment in information, culture and recreation fell by 27,300.

? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

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